Floor cleaning and polishing device



' E. J. BURCH FLOOR CLEANING AND 1 0LISHING DEVICE Jan. 19 1926. I 1,570,127

Filed Sept. 11, 1923 INVENTOR WITNESSE ATTORNEYS Patented Jan. 19, 1926.

"PATENT OFFICE.

EUGENE J. BURCH, OF MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE.

FLOOR CLEANING AND POLISHING DEVICE.

Application filed September 11, 1923. Serial No. 662,124.

To all whom it may concern:

a citizen of theUnited States, andresident of Memphis, in the county of Shelby and State of Tennessee, have invented certaln new and useful Improvements in, Floor Cleaning and Polishing Devices, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates generally to 1mprovements in devices for cleaning and polishing hardwood and like floors or l ke surfaces, more particularly to a roller which is adapted to be rotatably supported for movement in contact with a surface of the character described to effect the cleaning and polishing of the surface, and it consists in the combinations, constructions and arrangements herein described and claimed.

The present invention is an improvement over the cleaning and polishing device which is disclosed in my prior application for Letters Patent of the United States, Serial Number 599,677, filed November 8, 1922, in which I disclosed a cleaning and v polishing roller which is adapted to be supported at its opposite ends for rolling contact with a floor or like surface and comprising a rotatably supported hollow shaft having an integral pulley portion located intermediate of its length and having cylindrical cleaning and polishing members made of felt or like material secured on the portions of the hollow shaft which extend oppositely from the pulley portion, the cleaning and polishing cylinders being held at their opposite ends against displacement fromthe ends of the hollow shaft.

An object of the present invention is to provide: a cleaning and polishing device which, as in the case of the .device disclosed in my aforesaid application for patent, includes a hollow shaft or core adapted to be supported for rotation but which differs from the device disclosed in my aforesaid application for patent in that the hollow shaft or core is adapted to support a plurality of spaced apart annular cleaning and polishing sections at each end of the intermediate or pulley portion thereof, whereby wear on any one of the sections sufficient to render it unserviceable necessitates only the replacement of that particular section. a

-A further object of. the present invention is to provide an improved cleaning and polishing cylinder having a hollow shaft or core portion adapted to be supported for rotation about its axis and having the outer diameter thereof decreasing in steps from an intermediate pulley carrying portion toward opposite ends of the shaft or core, thus defining a series of spaced apart annular shoulders on each end portion of the shaft or core, the portion of the shaft or core extending between each twoadjacent shoulders being uniform in diameter and being adapted to support thereon an annular section of a cleaning and polishing member. 1

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved cleaning and polishing device of the character described which has means for engaging with the sections of the cleaning and polishing member at opposite ends thereof to compress the sections vso that the outer diameter of each section will remain practically constant when subjected tostress on the periphery thereof because of the rolling contact of the device with a surface which is being traversed thereby. Y

A further object of theinvention is to provide in a device of the character described a novel form of pulley having a peripheral groove of such angular contour in cross section as will result in an effective gripping contact between the walls of the groove in the pulley and the belt which is trained about the-pulley.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description, considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a perspective view showing a cleaning and polishing roller which embodies the present invention,

Figure 2 is a longitudinal vertical section through the roller,

Figure 3 is an end View of the roller,

Figure 4 is a transverse section through the pulley portion of the roller, and

Figure 5 is a fragmentary longitudinal vertical section through a drive pulley and through a pulley attachment thereon.

Referring now to the drawings and particularly to Figure 2, the numeral 1 designates a hollow shaft or tubular core. The tubular core 1 referably is reduced slightly in diameter a jacent'to its 0 posite ends, as indicated at 2 and is forme with an inwardly extending annular flange 3 at the inner end of each reduced portion 2, thus defining at each end of the tubular core 1 a chamber or seat for the reception of a bearing sleeve or bushing 4. An inner shaft or connecting rod 5 extends through the core 1 and is journaled adjacent to its opposite ends in the bearing sleeves or bushings l, being provided with threaded end portions 6 for engaging with internally threaded central openings 7 in retaining caps 8 which serve to slightly compress the bearing sleeves or bushings t and to prevent any appreciable axial movement of the core 1 relatively to the inner shaft or connecting rod 5. The caps 8 may be supported by any suitable means, none being shown, so that the core 1 and the parts carried thereby, which will be hereinafter described, may rotate as a unit about the inner shaft or connecting rod 5.

The core 1 is formed to provide a pulley portion 9 which is located midway between the ends of the core and which has an outer diameter greater than that of any other portion of the core. The pulley portion 9 has an annular groove 10 in its periphery intermediate length I which peripheral groove is flanked by annular grooves 11 of less depth than the groove 10. The groove 10 is adapted for engagement with a belt 12 and the walls of the groove 10 diverge at an angle of 60 so that a relatively great gripping contactwill be established between the belt, and the walls of the groove when the belt is circular in cross sectional contour,

as shown. The grooves 11 also are angularin cross sectional contour and are located adjacent to the opposite ends of the pulley portion 9 whereby annular flanges 13 will be defined by the grooves 11 in conjunction with annular shoulders 14- which merge the pulley portion 9 at its opposite ends into portions 15 of the core, the portions 15 of the core being of equal outer diameter and each being of less outer diameter than the pulley portion 9. Each portion 15 is merged at its outer end by an annular shoulder 16 into a portion 17 of the core which is of less outer diameter than the portion 15. In a like manner the portion 17 of the core is merged by an annular shoulder 18 into a portion 19 of the core which is of less outer diameter than the portion 17. Each portion 19 is merged at its outer end by an annular shoulder 20 into an end portion 21 of the core which is diametrically reduced and is threaded for engagement with a retaining nut 22 the function of which will be hereinafter described.

The polishing member comprises a pair of annular sections 23 each of suitable inner diameter to closely fit one of the portions '15 of the core, a pair of annular sections 24 each adapted because of its inner diameter to closely overfit the portions 17 and a pair of annular sections 25, each of which is,

adapted to fit upon one of the portions 15) of the core. The respective sections 23, 2a and 25 have equal outer diameters and the sections 24; and are of less length than the portions of the core on which they are disposed while the sections 23 are slightly greater in length than the portions 15 of the core. Each of the annular sections 23, 24 and 25 is made of a compressible material, such as felt. Each section 23 is spaced from the adjacent section 2 1- by a spacing washer 26 which is slipped over an outer end of the core to position at the inner end of the portion 17. Also, each section 24 is spaced from the adjacent section 25 by a spacing washer 27 which is similar to the spacing washer 26 that is adapted to fit upon the portion 19 of the core and to he slipped over the outer end of the core adjacent the inner end of the portion 19. Each of the spacing washers 26 and 27 has a peripheral groove 28 which is angular in cross sectional contour and is of sufficient depth to cause the outer peripheral portion of each spacing washer to constitute flanges as indicated at 26 for the spacing washer 26 and at 27 for the spacing Washer 27 From the foregoing description of the various parts of the device, the operation thereof may be readily understood. After the sections 23 have been placed on the portions 15 and moved against the shoulders 14, the spacing washers and the remaining sections at opposite ends of the sections 23 are placed successively on the core. The combined length of the spacing washer and the section of the cleaning and polishing member which are mounted on each of the portions 17 and 19 is slightly greater than that of the portion of the core on which they are mounted. It therefore will be manifest that when the retaining nuts 22 are turned on the threaded end portions of the core against the sections 25, pressure will be applied tending to compress all of the sections 23, 24 and 25 which will be held in such manner that resistance will be opposed continuously to any stress on the periphery of each section tending to cause elongation of the section.

With this arrangement, the sections 23, 2-1. and 25 will engage respectively with a surface which is to be cleaned, such as that indicated at 29 when the caps 8 are supported so that rotation of the core 1 will cause the sections 23, 24 and 25 to move in rolling contact with the surface 29. The core 1 may be rotated from any suitable source of power through the agency of the belt 12.

In Figure 5, I show a peripherally grooved drive pulley 40 secured on the outer end portion of the shaft 41 of a motor 42 for supplying power to operate the device. I provide a cap-shaped shell 43 whicheverfits the pulley 40 and is secured thereon by screws 44 threaded through openings in the periphery of the shell and engaging the peripheral groove in the latter. The shell is provided on the eriphery thereof with a pair of annular anges 45 diverging at an angle 01'? 60 thus providing a periph eral groove which is adapted to engage with the belt 12 in the same manner as the groove 10 of the pulley portion 9 of the device.

Obviously, my invention is susceptible of embodiment in forms other than those illustrated in the accompanying drawings and I therefore consider as my own all modifications and adaptations of the forms of the device herein disclosed which fairly fall within the scope of the appended. claim.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim is:

A cleaning and polishing roller comprising a tubular core having a pulley portion located intermediate its length and having between each end thereof and the proximate end of the pulley portion a series oiz' integral portions stepped in outer diameter and each merged into the adjacent portion by an annular shoulder, said second named portions decreasing in outer diameter toward the ends of the core, annular cleaning and polishing elements mounted on certain of the second named portions, annular spacing members spacing adjacent cleaning and polishing elements apart, and means engaging with the extreme end portions of the core to retain said cleaning and polishing elements and the spacing members against axial movement on the core.

EUGENE J. BURCH. 

